Briquetting press



P 1944. M. N. STADLIN BRIQUETTING PRESS Filed June 3, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l V INVENTOR Myer/1451407191 Sept. 19, 1944. M. N.'STADLIN BRIQUETTING PLRESS Filed June 5, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR P 1944' M. N. STADLIN BRIQUETTING PRESS Filed June 3, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Patented Sept. 19, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE I nalomi r r lfi a rnnss I Myer N.

of Pennsylvania Stadfln, Philadelphia, The Baldwin Locomotive Works,

Pa., assignor to a corporation Application June 3, 1943, Serial No. 489,577 6 Claims. (Cl. 107-15) This invention relates generally to hydraulic presses and more particularly to a press for briquetting dehydrated foods.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved press for briquetting loose materials, especially dehydrated foods, in a simple, expeditious and effective manner at a relatively low cost in construction, operation and maintenance,

A further object is to provide improved means for stripping the briquet from its mold and releasing the briquetting pressure between the opposed pressing'plungers while at the same time allowing the released briquet to be laterally slidable for removal from the press.

In the specific aspect of my invention I accomplish the foregoing and other objects by providing a floating mold that can be initially lifted into a closed mold position and then allowed to float with the briquetting material as the frictional contact of the material with the mold walls increases during the pressing operation and upon completion of this operation the mold is stripped over the formed briquet and the pressing plunger which is finally moved slightly downward by the mold movement to relieve the pressure of the opposed pressing plungers on the briquet but at the same time to hold the upper end of the plunger slightly above the upper level of the mold so as to permit the finished briquet to lie-removed laterally from the press.

In addition to accomplishing the'ioregoing improved mode of operation it is a further object of my invention to accomplish the same by a control system that automatically coordinates the essential operating functions,

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from the follow- .ing description of the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of my improved press shown in its completely open position;

Fig. 1 but showing a completely pressed dehydrated food briquet;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the briquet stripped from the mold and supported freely on the upper end of the pressing plunger prior to lateral removal of the briquet; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic outline of my improved press and control system therefor in a position to fill the food chamber.

In the drawings my improved press specificall comprises a main.cylinder I, rods 2 and 3 for joining an upper crosshead 4 and lower cross- Fig. 2 is a partial view of the press similar to head 5 in fixed relation to each other and to the main cylinder. Spacing sleeves 6 are interposed between crossheads l and 5 and surround the guide rods. A main ram 1 has a platen 8 upon which is mounted a briquetting plunger 9. .This

plunger, 01. any suitable cross-sectional configuration specifically shown as rectangular, although it may be circular slides within a mold II which is slidably guided on the sleeve 6 while lateral arms or extensions i I and I2 formed integrally with the mold have openings to slidably receive reduced ends of double acting mold operating rams l3 and it. These rams are received in cylinders l5 and I6 secured to the upper crosshead 4. The lower reduced ends of the rams l3 and H are provided with nuts l1 and 48 adapted to be threadedly adjusted to any desired axial position in accordance with the amount of mold floating desired. An upper normally axially stationary plunger 20 of the same configuration as mold I0 is telescopically received within the mold. This plunger is also mounted upon a laterally movable slide 2| supported by guide ways 22 secured to the underside of crosshead 4. The purpose of the lateralsliding of plunger 20 is to permit a filling funnel 23, Fig. 4, which is mounted upon slide 2|, to be brought into'full alignment with a hopper opening 24 and the floating mold as shown in Fig. 4. Hence, the funnel 23 and plunger 20 are alternately s'hiftable into alignment with the mold to permit either a filling or a briquetting operation.

.The remaining structure and control system will be more fully appreciated from the sequence of operation to be described as follows. With the parts shown in Fig. 4 material is fed from a suitable hopper opening 24 and funnel 23 into mold In with the pressing plunger 9 in its-lowermost position. After the mold is filled with loose material fluid pressure iroma suitable pump 26 is supplied through pressure supply pipe 2l, check valve 28, pipe 29 and control valve 30 to the left end of a piston and cylinder generally indicated at 3| for moving slide 2| to the right thereby to bring plunger 20 into alignment with the mold and simultaneously cover hopper opening 24. A valve 32 is then operated to supply pressure from pipe 21 to the lower ends of mold cylinders liand l6 by way of a pipe 33, it being understood that the valve 32 was previously in a position to connect the pump to pipe 31 to hold down the mold. The mold rams l3 and I4 now move upwardly until nuts I! and i8 engage mold arms II and I2 and thereafter continued upward movement of the mold rams brings the mold l0 into telescopic relation with stationary plunger II. At this moment the mold is supported on nuts l1 and II with clearance between the upper side oi arms I I and i2 and the shoulders or the reduced ram ends; A valve 84 is now adjusted to admit pump pressure iron pipe 21 through a check valve II to the bottom main cylinder l, the upper end oi'this cylinder being connected bya pipe 3! to pump sump 31. All relier valves referred to herein are operable to allow flow in only one direction as indicated by their arrows. The main ram I now moves upwardly to cause compression of the loose dehydrated food or other'matcrial and when frictional resistance between the material and mold wall is sumciently great the mold moves upwardly in a well-known manner under this friction force as shown by the position ot mold arms Ii and I! in Fig. 2. The clearance above these arms and the shouldered ends of the, rams II and i4 allows for an ample degree of such movement. When valve 34 is in its neutral position there is the possibility of leakage through the valve to the lower end of the cylinder thereby causing undue intensification of pressure in the upper end oi the main cylinder i by reason of upward ram movement therein. To prevent this a check valve 46 allows fluid which is displaced from the cylinder to be forced through pipes 36' and 41 and'check valve 48 to the pressure line 21 this being possible by reason of the underside of main piston I having a larger area than the upper side of the piston head and accordingly sufllcient total upward force can be created to drive fluid from the top of the piston into the pressure pipe 21.

When the briquet .is compressed to the desired extent, the briquet is then stripped from the mold by first adjusting valve 34 to a neutral position so as to prevent any flow oi fluid from the lower end of the main cylinder I through valve 34. The valve 32 is then adjusted to admit pump pressure fluid from pipe 21 through pipes 31 to the upper end or mold cylinders I5 and I l and simultaneously through check valve SI and pipe 36' to the upper end of the main cylinder i. However, the main ram cannot move downwardly under the pressure supplied to the upper end or the main cylinder because fluid in the lower end 01' the main cylinder can only escape through a pressure relief valve 39 which is set at a sufficiently high pressure to prevent the main ram from moving downwardly under the fluid force in the upper end of the main cylinder. On the other hand, the fluid pressure supplied to-the upper end 01' the mold cylinders l5 and It will cause the mold rams to move the mold l0 downwardly until its arms II and I2 engage the intermediate platen l. The mold will thereby be stripped down over the briquet 40. To release the briquet so that it is not held against the stationary plunger 20 and still have the upper end of briquetting plunger 9 slightly above the upper end of mold It in order to laterally remove the briquet, I provide means for automatically slightly moving the briquetting plunger downwardly after the stripping operation is completed. This is accomplished by the provision of abutments or plates 42 secured to movable platen 8 so that when the briquet is fully compressed these abutments will project above the crosshead i as is shown in Fig. 2. Hence. the mold is adapted during the lowermost portion of its downward movement to engage these abutments and force the briquetting plunger 9 and main ram 1 downwardly until the mold arms II and I2 engage crosshead I. This through valve 34 to sump downward movement 01' the main ram is permitted, even though valve 34 is closed, by reason oi. pressure relief valve 39 being set so that the combined force of fluid pressure in mold cylinder I! and i6 and in the upper end of main cylinder I will force fluid out of the lower end oi. the main cylinder through the relief valve 30 and thence back through pipe 33, valve 32 and pipe 44 to the pump sump 31. It will be noted that the upper end of the plunger is slightly above the upper end of the mold so thatthe briquet may be laterally removed. The ram and cylinder 3| are then actuated to move plunger 20 laterally at which time funnel 23 will simultaneousy engage and move the briquet oil of the upper end of the briquetting punger 9 onto a suitable platform or other receptacle (not shown) Valve 34 is thereupon adjusted to admit fluid pressure from line 21, valve 36 and pipe 38 to the upper end of main cylinder l and simultaneously connect the lower end of the cylinder 31. The main ram thereupon moves to its lowermost position to allow the mold to be refilled.

From the foregoing disclosure it is seen that I have provided an extremely compact and economical briquetting press that is particularly adapted for dehydrated foods. The stripping operation is effected while the briquet is flrmly held between the briquetting plunger and the stationary plunger and yet the briquet is released from this pressure automatically when the stripping operation is completed.

It will of course be understood that various changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A briquetting press comprising, in combination, a main ram and cylinder, a briquetting plunger operated thereby, another plunger opposed to said briquetting plunger, a mold in which material is compressed between said plungers, means for moving said mold to an operative position with respect to both of said plungers and still allow said mold to have floating movement in response to frictional contact between the material to be briquetted and the mold walls-during compression of the material, means for stripping a briquet from the mold, and means for relieving the briquetting force between said plungers automatically in response to the stripping operation.

2. A briquetting press comprising, in combination, a main ram and cylinder, a briquetting plunger operated thereby, another plunger opposed to said briquetting plunger, a mold in which material is compressed between said plungers, means for moving said mold to an operative position with respect to both of said plungers.

and still allow said mold to have floating movement' in response to frictional contact between the material to be briquetted and the mold walls during compression of the material, means for stripping a briquet from said mold, and means whereby said briqueting plunger is actuated by movement of said mold upon occurrence of a predetermined movement thereof thereby to relieve the briquetting force between said plungers.

3. A briquetting press comprising, in combination, a main ram and cylinder, a briquetting plunger operated thereby another plunger opposed to said briquetting plunger, a mold in which material is compressed between said means for moving the mold to strip a briquet from said mold while the briqueting plunger remains stationary upon occurrence of a predetermined stripping movement thereof to transmit movement of the mold to the briquetting plunger to relieve the briquetting force between said plungers.

4. The combination set forth in claiml further characterized in that the main cylinder has a pressure relief valve connected to the compressing end of the main cylinder, and means for moving the briquettinglplunger to relieve the briquetting force by moving the main ram against the fluid pressure in said compressing end and forcing fluid through said pressure relief valve whereby a force is continuously maintained on the ram suflicient to hold the same in whatever position to which it may be moved in response to the stripping operation.

5. A briquetting press comprising, in combination, a main cylinder and ram, a movable briquetting plunger operated by said ram, 9. plunger normally opposed to said briquetting plunger, a mold in which material is interposed between said plungers, rams and cylinders for moving said mold into a briquetting position and for moving the mold to strip a briquet therefrom, means whereby an active force is maintained between said plungers and on the briquetted material during the stripping operation, and means for relieving the force between said plungers to allow removal of the briquet upon completion of the stripping operation.

6. A briquetting press comprising, in combination, a main cylinder and ram, a movable briquetting plunger operated by said ram, a plunger normally opposed to said briquetting plunger, a mold in which material is interposed between said plungers, rams and cylinders for moving said mold into a briquetting position and for moving the mold to strip a briquet therefrom, means whereby an active force is maintained between said plungers and on the briquetted material' during the stripping operation, and means for partially moving said briquetting plunger upon completon of the stripping operation so that relief of force on the briquet allows the briquetting plunger to project beyond the end of the mold whereby the briquet is adapted to slide laterally oil of the end of the briquetting plunger.

MYER N. s'rnprm. 

